2.2.09

A couple of days ago, Adam made a post about a building in Paris, which intrigued him (and which intrigued us all after having read his post). The architect was Paul Auscher (1866-1932).

Auscher was later responsible for a number of buildings in Paris, one of which is in a very striking Art Nouveau style – obviously the only one by him in this style - and using concrete as basic material. Most Parisians have seen this building, have probably even been visiting it, perhaps not all of us paying too much attention. You can find it on Rue de Rennes (no. 140). (You can read more about it – in French - on the excellent blog « Paris 1900 ».)It was originally built for Félix Potin in 1904. Félix Potin was for about a century a leading retailer chain, especially in the Paris region. Everybody went to “Félix Potin” to buy “anything”. Potin and his successors created some big department stores, like this one, and around 1950 there were some 1200 Félix Potin mini markets in the Paris region. The chain was later taken over, obviously not well managed ... and today nothing is left, except some buildings. After Félix Potin this building has been occupied by Monoprix, Tati .... and today Zara, Spanish competitor to GAP, H&M.... The interior has changed completely, but fortunately the exterior has well survived a number of restorations, including a recent one (there is office space to rent).I mentioned another remarkable Félix Potin building from 1910, situated on Rue Réaumur, in a previous post.

The top photo has been taken from in front of the only real skyscraper within the Paris borders, Tour Montparnasse, looking down Rue de Rennes. You can see the tower of Félix Potin at the left. The Félix Potin building is in sharp contrast with its neighbour, the almost only recent building on this street, which is one of several FNAC* shops in Paris.

(I'm sorry for somewhat dark pictures, taken a cloudy January afternoon.)

_______*/ FNAC is a leading chain in France for audio, books, records, DVDs, computer software and hardware, televisions, photographic equipment.... with more than 200 stores, mostly in France, but some 60 abroad, belonging to PPR (Pinault).

Hi Peter! Great post as usually! Rue de Rennes always means for me my first visit to a FNAC, long time ago. Now I can see a FNAC from my window and it takes only 6 minutes walking slowly to get there... But the Felix Potin is a charming building!!

As for the general strike, I must confess that I was surprised to see that airports and railway stations weren't strongly affected, as far as I could see; I took my precautions and made it to Strasbourg with the Lufthansa Bus from Frankfurt, but wouldn't say that there was a general strike when I got to Strasbourg... ;))

Don't do shorter posts, otherwise I'll be left alone in the Blogosphere... ;)) The one on «Behind the Town Hall» is a great post, not a post «great»...

Fantastic photos Peter, especially the first which gives a real snapshot of the bustle of the Rue de Rennes. I imagine that the inside of the building was once equally as interesting, and I would have loved to have visited the shop when it first opened.

I thought this looked familiar!! The bottom photo with the reflection is a half block from the hotel where we stayed our first trip. I photographed the modern builing from upstairs at Zara there on the corner. Is the FNAC under some type of construction? Also, do you know what that funny little door is on the 3 or 4th floor? VPS I'll email you my photo .

great architecture Peter,Yeh its really awsome the differneces in architecture, thats inspiring, it even seems to fit, like it has beenalways this way...

I also love the background (is that captured?) with the white sky, I always try to make my background natural, but maybe the sky was just that way that moment...

He Peter I just want to let you know that I always have 'to walk through all you older blogs, before I reach this one, maybe its because I click on your profile photo, than I get the old blogs first, . Q: Please can you considder to make a CLEAR link (with capital letters?) to this blog? Just a question. see what you do with it, I will visit you anyhow, but it would be nice if....

Good weekwishes and thanks for your visit, and good wishes for my mom.:)

GMG:I guess most of like the FNAC shops! The difficulty is that you have a tendency to leave with more than planned! Yes, the strike wasn't much felt, except for the school children. You circulated better than ever in Paris. A lot of people stayed at home, I believe.OK. Let's try to keep them long then - together!!

HPY:Ca va, ma vielle? :-))

Adam:Same here! At least the outside is in good and rather original shape!

JoAnn:I have nothing against a mixed architecture. It depends. There are places where it's possible and even nice, other, where it's more doubtful. ... and then it's the question of what the new building will look like.The sky is as it was, a January afternoon!Regarding your difficulties to reach me, I don't quite understand. I tested and see no link to my old blog. Have you tried Google Reader? It's an easy way to reach the blog you like to visit.

Cuckoo:Not really summer yet! :-) Just on the freezing point today and a bit of snow yeterday!

I would give anything if we had trains, anywhere in Ohio, like your trains in Paris. We don't even have old, smokey, ones and the age of steam disappeared here too. We got diesels that look like the freight trains they are.

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My previous blog, PHO, was in operation for a year as from March 2007. It contains similar posts as this one, basically talking about different well known or more secrete sites in Paris. You can reach it by clicking HERE.